Hard hats or helmets are used to protect the user's head in hazardous environments. These environments include factories, combat, fires and construction sites. These environments are often dark, thus requiring a flashlight to enable the user to see. It is necessary, therefore, to provide a hard hat or helmet with a flashlight.
These hazardous environments can cause the user to bump his head. Therefore, any flashlight attached to a hard hat or helmet must be secure enough to withstand bumps. Also, the flashlight must be adjustable as to the angle of forward direction to enable the user to illuminate his work area.
Below are noted some prior art efforts at providing a flashlight on a hard hat or helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,212 (1989) to Benoit discloses a rubber water sports helmet having a flashlight housed in an upper cavity. An alternate embodiment discloses a bicycle helmet having a pair of waterproof flashlights permanently affixed thereto. These are not removable nor are they adjustable. They are also relatively expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,187 (1991) to Herrick discloses a hard hat or helmet headlamp holder. A base plate is riveted to the hard hat. A swivel mount holds a headlamp brace which aligns a flashlight forward. This invention requires altering the original hard hat or helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,539 (1962) to Kidd discloses a miner's hard hat having a metal retaining bracket for a flashlight. The hard hat is fitted with a permanently mounted frontal transverse clip. Once again, the original hard hat must be altered to accommodate the flashlight.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 312,706 to Janesko (1990) as illustrated by J & L Supply, Hasbrook Heights, N.J., discloses a clip on flashlight holder for a fire hat or other hard hat. If dropped, then the clip would fall off. In summary the prior art does not teach a removable flashlight holder for a helmet (helmet and hard hat are synonymous herein) which can accommodate a wide range of flashlight sizes and styles, withstand bumps, adjust the angle of light, and mount to any helmet without altering the helmet. The present invention provides all of the above noted features in an inexpensive embodiment utilizing fabrics.